(Part 2) Best american literature books according to redditors
We found 6,075 Reddit comments discussing the best american literature books. We ranked the 2,375 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Well thanks! (I'm Andy Weir, by the way). For those who are interested, "The Martian" will be available on February 11: http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-Novel-Andy-Weir/dp/0804139024/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
My Grandfather wrote this book! Excited to see it mentioned here.
If you're looking to read this book, Amazon has it:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/034543529X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_0qH3AbCEG5HKX
No, I don't see any money from sales, I just like seeing my grandfather's work being enjoyed!
Just throwing it out there, go read / listen to "One Second After", your question is the premise of the book.
Leviathan Wakes has several horror-on-spaceship passages, and some really gnarly horror-on-spacestation scenes.
Then you should read To Reign in Hell.
^(Note: these are all books I've read and can recommend from experience.)
David Brin's Sundiver is a detective mystery. Likewise his Existence is a mystery about a recently discovered artifact, though its presentation with multiple perspectives lacks the singular detective tone of Sundiver. It's not as much of a mystery/thriller more of a mystery/adventure. It is also one of the overall best science fiction novels I've ever read; the writing is top notch, the characters superbly lifelike, the tone excellent, and the overall reading experience enjoyable and filled with a realistic optimism.
Gregory Benford's Artifact is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact. His Timescape is about a strange phenomenon.
Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact.
Asimov's The End of Eternity is a classic mystery/thriller.
Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and Chasm City are both standalone detective mysteries. His Revelation Space is similar, but does not have the same classic mystery tone.
Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and Slant are both standalone detective mysteries.
I seem to recall the Second Foundation (Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph) trilogy by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin having some mystery aspects. I think one of them at least is a detective mystery, but I can't remember which right now.
Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos is a sort of detective mystery, but its tone is much more action/adventure despite the protagonist's undertakings to determine what in the world is going on.
Joan D. Vinge's Cat Trilogy (Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall) are detective mysteries.
Julian May's Perseus Spur is a detective mystery. It's pretty light-hearted and a lot of fun to read. Something you would pick up at an airport bookstore and not be at all disappointed with. I can't speak for the other two books in the trilogy, haven't read them yet. Just ordered them off Amazon for $4 a piece.
I could go on, but I think that should keep you busy for a while.
 
^(Edited to clarify the tone of some suggestions. Some are more traditional mystery/thriller, while others are more adventure/mystery, more alike to Indiana Jones than a noir detective.)
By the way, most prepper fiction is horribly-written and poorly-researched but the Dark Grid series uses this scenario and is better than most. It's no Cormac McCarthy, but it's an interesting 'What If' scenario.
One Second After is also pretty good and concerns the aftermath of a weaponized EMP.
The philosophy you are critiquing is not Objectivism. Here is what Rand actually wrote:
>The standard of value of the Objectivist ethics -- the standard by which one judges what is good or evil -- is man's life, or: that which is required for man's survival qua man.
>
>Since reason is man's basic means of survival, that which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good; that which negates, opposes, or destroys it is the evil.
>
>Since everything man needs has to be discovered by his own mind and produced by his own effort, the two essentials of the method proper to a rational being are: thinking and productive work.
>
>If some men do not choose to think... their survival is made possible only by those who did choose to think...
>
>If some men attempt to survive by brute force or fraud, by looting, robbing, cheating, or enslaving the men who produce... their survival is made possible only by... the men who choose to think and to produce the goods..."
...
>The Objectivist ethics holds man's life as the standard of value -- and his own life as the ethical purpose of every individual man...
>
>The difference between 'standard' and 'purpose' in this context is as follows: a 'standard' is an abstract principle that serves as a measurement or gauge to guide a man's choices in the achievement of a concrete, specific purpose. 'That which is required for the survival of man qua man' is an abstract principle that applies to every individual man. The task of applying this principle to a concrete, specific purpose -- the purpose of living a life proper to a rational being -- belongs to every individual man, and the life he has to live is his own.
>
>Man must choose his actions, values, and goals by the standard of that which is proper to man -- in order to achieve, maintain, fulfill, and enjoy that ultimate value, that end in itself, which is his own life.
-- Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness. Read the whole thing.
p.s. an even better quote follows:
> The moral cannibalism of all hedonist and altruist doctrines lies in the premise that the happiness of one man necessitates the injury of another.
>
> Today, most people hold this premise as an absolute not to be questioned. And when one speaks of man's right to exist for his own sake, for his own rational self-interest, most people assume automatically that this means his right to sacrifice others. Such an assumption is a confession of their own belief that to injure, enslave, rob, or murder others is in man's self-interest -- which he must selflessly renounce. The idea that man's self-interest can be served only by a non-sacrificial relationship with others has never occurred to those humanitarian apostles of unselfishness, who proclaim their desire to achieve the brotherhood of men. And it will not occur to them, or to anyone, so long as the concept 'rational' is omitted from the context of 'values,' 'desires,' 'self-interest,' and ethics.
>
>The Objectivist ethics proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness -- which means: the values required for man's survival qua man -- which means: the values required for human survival -- not the values produced by the desires, the emotions, the 'aspirations,' the feelings, the whims, or the needs of irrational brutes, who have never outgrown the primordial practice of human sacrifices, have never discovered an industrial society, and can conceive of no self-interest but that of grabbing the loot of the moment.
>
>The Objectivist ethics holds that human good does not require human sacrifices and cannot be achieved by the sacrifice of anyone to anyone. It holds that the rational interests of men do not clash -- that there is no conflict of interests among men who do not desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor accept them, who deal with one another as traders, giving value for value.
Neverwhere
Stardust
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Nieffenegger is worth reading.
Redshirts
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Neil and Terry are actually friends. I read the story of how they met once but I can't quite remember all the details. I think they were on the same train to London or something. Neil is also friends with Tori Amos which is kind of interesting. He has sequestered himself away to her different homes in the past so he can quietly write his books. Terry and Neil even wrote a book together (Good Omens), to be honest it's not my favorite but I would definitely recommend you take a look at Neil Gaiman.
Oh... one more, you should read Neverwhere.
Dan Simmons Ilium and Olympos books are a very odd, and very good, retelling of the Trojan Wars.
To those interested why exactly, please do yourself a HUGE favor and read this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Second-After-John-Matherson-Novel-ebook/dp/B002LATV16
It has two more in the series. Best urban survival fiction story i have ever read. EMP's are fucking scary because the human nature is scary. I was recommended this book on this subreddit a while back and i thank you, whoever you are.
Discussion of Columbus always reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. It's a fascinating combination of timey-wimeyness, discussions on morality, and literal historical revisionism. Certainly worth a read!
It was brutal. I wasn't that good. But there were many people who were superb. It was such a pleasure watching them perform.
Here are some sci-fi recommendations (you may have read them already, but I thought I'd offer anyway):
Serious Scifi:
Anathem the "multiverse" (multiple realities) and how all that works
Seveneves feminism meets eugenics—watch out!
The Culture series by Iain Banks, esp Book 2, the Player of Games Banks is dead, but wrote some of the best intellectual scifi ever
Brilliant, Visionary:
Accelerando brilliant and hilarious; and it's not a long book
Snowcrash classic
Neuromancer another classic
Tawdry yet Lyrical (in a good way):
Dhalgren beautiful, poetic, urban, stream of consciousness, and more sex than you can believe
Underrated Classics:
Voyage to Arcturus ignore the reviews and the bad cover of this edition (or buy a diff edition); this is the ONE book that every true scifi and fantasy fan should read before they die
Stress Pattern, by Neal Barrett, Jr. I can't find this on Amazon, but it is a book you should track down. It is possibly the WORST science fiction book ever written, and that is why you must read it. It's a half-assed attempt at a ripoff of Dune without any of the elegance or vision that Herbert had, about a giant worm that eats people on some distant planet. A random sample: "A few days later when I went to the edge of the grove to ride the Bhano I found him dead. I asked Rhamik what could have happened and he told me that life begins, Andrew, and life ends. Well, so it does."
She believes selfishness is a virtue, and even wrote a book about it.
Actually, they've got the Leviathan Wakes series in the pipe.
This is the single best production/executive decision SyFy has made in 15 years. If they don't fuck this up, it could catapult the channel into a new, top level of prominence.
Try Fallen Dragon by Hamilton..
Also Snow Crash, which does have another book in it's universe but is stand alone, the other book is Diamond Age Which I also recommend. If you end up liking Stephenson then try Anathem.
I too am a fan of stand alone novels, I wish author weren't pressured to turn everything into a saga.
To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
I can, thanks to Neil Stephenson.
Also, if you like good "hard science" fiction novels, you may enjoy Dragon's Egg.
The first thing that springs to mind is John Scalzi's Redshirts (Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas https://www.amazon.com/dp/0765334798/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1LEzxbWHPGGYW).
Lots of pop culture references, plenty of page turning action, and not nearly as technical as the Martian.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing, a history of Shackleton's doomed polar expedition, which ended with him leading a party of sailors hundreds of miles through the snow.
The Martian by Andy Weir, a Robinson Crusoe story about a scientist stranded on Mars trying to survive by jury-rigging various things together.
I'd suggest one of the following:
But... if we reverse the polarity we'll be able to shave 3 lightseconds off our transwarp phase regulation matrix!
To everyone in this thread: Go read Redshirts right now.
Agreed. I'm a fan of Gaiman but American Gods was just 'okay.' I highly recommend Neverwhere or Stardust if you want to try something else. Both are much more vibrant (not quite the right word for Neverwhere but it will do) and better paced I felt.
These:
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.
Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.
Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.
Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.
Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.
No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.
Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.
Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.
Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.
The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.
Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.
An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.
Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.
Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.
Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.
Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.
Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.
The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.
The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.
Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.
The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.
Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.
International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.
How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.
This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.
Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz.
Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
The end
Someone on reddit got me to start those books too, Im now five books in and I cant stop. You have to give them a try. They are quite cheap as Kindle books. You can find the first one here: Storm Front
Ahhh, well.. if you're a Pratchett fan than the obvious starting point is Good Omens which is co-authored by the both of them. If you like that I would either go to American Gods if you like the reworking old myths angle or Neverwhere if that 'london' writing feel does more for you. Any way around it you can't go wrong really. I've read everything he's written outside of a few short stories and not a word has been bad.
If you liked that episode, check out the book Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Foreward. It's a great read, with a similar concept underneath it.
Listening to him describe surface irregularities (mountains) on a neutron star reminded me of Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward. Definitely worth a read if you're into hard sci-fi.
I think you're recalling the plot of Dragon's Egg by Roberrt Forward, in which the other species live very accelerated lives on the surface of a passing neutron star. Good book.
George R. Stewart's Earth Abides more or less explores this exact theme. It's kind of like TWD meets Life After People but without zombies. An amazing read if you're interested.
I nominate "The Martian" by Andy Weir. It's a new book by a new author, so I don't know what to expect, but the reviews are all glowing (Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Onion AV Club, Ernest Cline, and the astronaut Chris Hadfield all loved it, currently 4.7 out of 5 with over 2,000 reviews on Amazon), and it sounds pretty awesome.
Neil Gaiman said it best in the following excerpt from Neverwhere:
"To say that Richard Mayhew was not very good at heights would be perfectly accurate, but it would fail to give the full picture. Richard hated clifftops, and high buildings: somewhere not far inside him was the fear-the stark, utter, silently screaming terror-that if he got too close to the edge, then something would take over and he would find himself walking to the edge of a clifftop and stepping off into space. It was as if he could not entirely trust himself, and that scared Richard more than the simple fear of falling ever could. So he called it vertigo, and hated it and himself, and kept away from high places."
http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-Novel-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060557818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309720459&sr=8-1
Yep, sounds like Anathem.
Yup.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson deals with the years leading up to an apocalyptic event, as well as what happens after the re-building.
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart, is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend it.
Ilium by Dan Simmonds is fun.
Almost anything by Peter F Hamilton, but Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained is a good place to start.
It is very real, its really heavy scifi but its a great read imo.
After the Satanic Bible, The Satanic Scriptures by Peter Gilmore or Devil's Notebook by Anton LaVey are great if you want another book directly about Satanism.
If you want to branch out into related philosophical works, I would suggest The Ego and His Own by Max Stirner, The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand or The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche.
If you mean libertarian literature or novels, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age are great books set in a kind of anarchist society, though that isn't the focus of the book.
I'd also suggest Freedom (TM), which can be read independently, but is a sequel to another novel.
You may want to check out these:
Anarcho-capitalist literature
Edit:
Some more
Outside of Ancap novels, I'd recommend 1,001 Arabian Nights, The Catcher in the Rye, The Giver, Brave New World, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Ender's Game.
Look at Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus for a possible answer to both how and what.
Short version: Columbus goes East instead of West, never brings back tales of gold, dribs and drabs of people go west, the Incas/Aztecs/etc. capture them, reverse-engineer their tech, then take over Europe, slaughtering hordes in in the conflict, and bringing the culture of human sacrifice there.
Because Snow Crash was such an engrossing story.
I'm slowly but surely reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. ($9.99)
I'm traditionally more of a movie guy than a book guy, but my quest for more great cyberpunk has lead me all the way back to the roots of the genre. It's really cool to look back at what an author believed the future would be like, especially when they're right about parts.
Is there anything in particular you're leaning to?
Author Cherie Priest has a couple excellent books.
The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher, is a wonderful series. It's about a wizard-for-hire in the modern world, and delves into the wonderful magic environment that Jim has created. Jim likes to put his characters through trouble and turmoil, and it's good for character development! The series starts off with Storm Front.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another great series. It's a post-apocalyptic/oppressed setting, centering around something called 'The Hunger Games' - an annual battle that captivates the capitol and all twelve remaining districts. There is a movie releasing next year, as well.
The Name of the Wind is a terrific book by Patrick Rothfuss, the first entry into his series The Kingkiller Chronicles. It's a fantasy setting, and is about a character named Kvothe recounting his life. The writing style has an absolutely artistic writing style that is captivating to read, and such interesting and progressing events that make you eagerly turn the page. I have not yet read the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, but I'm told it's even better in every way.
Terry Pratchett is an amazing and renowned author. He has been knighted, an event for which he created his own sword for by hand, battles against Alzheimer's in a most respectable and commendable way, and has created such an interesting and provoking world that provides a lot of laughs and curious perspectives on matters. Where you start is a more difficult choice. A couple choice options might be as follows (I haven't read others yet, so I can't attest to others, but there are many!).
I haven't started this book yet, nor looked into it, but I have heard terrific reviews. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, is his first book in his Gentleman Bastard Sequence series.
And of course, if you haven't entered George RR Martin's world of Westeros, the series A Song of Ice and Fire could be a wonderful read. It's very complex and very long and not yet complete (five books so far). It starts off with Game of Thrones, which is what the recently-aired HBO series was based upon.
In the science fiction sphere, I would recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's the first in his Ender's series, and there are quite a few books set in the world. I have only read the first one, and it was an excellent read, insightful and thought-provoking.
...anyway, that should be a few to peek at!
One Second After by William R. Forstchen is a good fiction novel about an EMP attack on the US.
I've been reading One Second After and the main character's daughter is a type 1 and I am wondering how long she will last.
I imagine insulin will have a good shelf life if you keep it as cool as possible. It might be good enough to bury the vials as deep as you can if you don't have any other method of refrigeration. There is also a method using clay pots called a Zeer fridge. A better way is to have a small dorm fridge powered with a generator or maybe solar panels, but no idea how long fuel will last.
The aspects of Clarke's style that you seem to enjoy really shine in the short story format. You said you've read everything, does that include his short fiction? There's a great anthology which collects them all.
Asimov was also great at writing short fiction, and I like this collection of his works.
Many of the stories curated in those anthologies were published 50 or so years ago in weekly/monthly science fiction magazines, you might see if any one has created 'best of science fiction weekly' collections.
Tor publishes short fiction for free on its website regularly. It's fairly hit or miss, but it's a good way to window shop authors.
A novel you might enjoy is Leviathan Wakes. It's a hard sci-fi novel in which humanity has colonized Mars and the Asteroid Belt. At this point all have their own unique cultures because it takes so long to travel between them. Not a lot of character development, which you don't seem to be into anyway, just fun ride in a cool setting. First in a series, but I haven't read the sequels yet so I can't comment on those.
You also might like The Martian, by Andy Weir. An astronaut is stranded by himself on Mars and has to survive. Weir wrote a short story called "The Egg" which gets posted to reddit on a regular basis.
This might seem like an off-the-wall suggestion, but Snow Crash satisfies your requirements, and is fantastic.
It's science fiction--cyberpunk, actually--from the early 90s, foundational to many modern concepts and ideas (the internet, viral media, avatars, etc), but the protagonist (whose name is, in fact, Hiro Protagonist) is the self-described Greatest Sword-fighter in the World. Of course he's also one of the only sword-fighters left, but his enemy in the novel wields monomolecular glass knives and can't be killed without killing yourself, so he gets lots of practice.
Seen from this zoom level it probably sounds cheesy, and the style is very manic, very old-school-90s-cool, but once it hooks you it becomes very serious, very hardcore, and one of the best novels you will ever read.
There's a fair amount of sword fighting, everything from Kendo screaming-at-the-other-guy to Pirate ship deck fights to cyberspace lightning duels to race riot bar brawls. Although he probably wasn't at the time, Stephenson is now an expert in swords, from forging them to using them, and what he lacked in knowledge as he wrote Snow Crash he certainly makes up for with enthusiasm.
It's worth a try, if you haven't read it already, and its future is, more or less, our present, minus the exaggerations. Which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Edit: Fixed the link.
It just so happens, I know the perfect book. One Second After by William R. Forstchen. There're a bunch of books in the series so have fun!
Avid reader here.
Wool by Hugh Howey. (all of the series)
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (all of the series)
One Second After by William R. Forstchen. (all of the series)
So many recommendations.
It depends on your tastes.
Edit: Hugh Howey encouraged and supported FanFiction based off of his Wool series and some of it is also pretty damn good.
Amazing story and amazing journalism. I imagine stories like these will be common more common in the USA as the combination of climate change and our decreasing wealth starts increasing the divides between winners and losers and areas that become Red Zones, to use the language of this article.
Paolo Bacigalupi has written some good books exploring these themes:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7095831-ship-breaker
The more Republican-influenced literature tends to play out as a return to Jeffersonian farming freeholds with cities turning into wealthy enclaves surrounded by riotous welfare slaves:
https://www.amazon.com/Second-After-John-Matherson-Novel-ebook/dp/B002LATV16/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=one+second+after&qid=1569690259&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
My guess is we might see a little bit of both if we're unlucky.
Anyways thanks for sharing.
Not in any particular order.
it's a science fiction story, so characters and plot line.
Seveneves https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062334514/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_QJSIBbXST9VSK
r/seveneves also exists, but is mostly incomprehensible without reading the book first.
In no particular order:
I kinda agree with you, but Anita Shreve's Eden Close and Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife are both touching books, IMO, which might fulfil this request.
You probably need to have a pretty good understanding of mythology (especially Homer's poems) to appreciate them, but Dan Simmons has two of the most entertaining books I've ever read.
Illium and Olympus. They are just a bizarre mix of classical references and science fiction. Throw in a little Shakespeare and Proust for fun and you are set. I know I was hooked after this intro:
>“Rage.
>Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles, of Peleus’ son, murderous, man-killer, fated to die, sing of the rage that cost the Achaeans so many good men and sent so many vital, hearty souls down to the dreary House of Death. And while you’re at it, Muse, sing of the rage of the gods themselves, so petulant and so powerful here on their new Olympos, and of the rage of the post-humans, dead and gone though they might be, and of the rage of those few true humans left, self-absorbed and useless though they have become. While you are singing, O Muse, sing also of the rage of those thoughtful, sentient, serious but not-so-close-to-human beings out there dreaming under the ice of Europa, dying in the sulfur ash of Io, and being born in the cold folds of Ganymede.
>Oh, and sing of me, O Muse, poor born-against-his-will Hockenberry, dead Thomas Hockenberry, Ph.D., Hockenbush to his friends, to friends long since turned to dust on a world long since left behind. Sing of my rage, yes, of my rage, O Muse, small and insignificant though that rage might be when measured against the anger of the immortal gods, or when compared to the wrath of the god-killer Achilles.
>On second though, O Muse, sing nothing of me. I know you. I have been bound and servant to you, O Muse, you incomparable bitch. And I do not trust you, O Muse. Not one little bit.”
have you read Ilium? If you liked Illiad, it is mind-blowing.
Rand was a very polarizing figure, but if you divorce the philosophy from the individual, she actually did bring something to the table. At the risk of sounding like an ad, if anyone is truly interested, check out Objectivism in One Lesson by Andrew Bernstein. It's a lot easier to follow than The Virtue of Selfishness, which is the closest thing I could find to a manifesto by Rand herself.
Reminds me of my favorite book in the last 5 yrs http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451228731/
The follow up is even better http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451231899/
Sounds like you need to read Redshirts.
When the Narrative requires you to do something, you do it.
Good point. Without redshirts dying, how do we know the monster is dangerous?
Poor bastards.
The Martian by Andy Weir. I can't recommend it enough, it's fantastic, and if you haven't already read it it sounds like you'd like it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804139024/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8
There is a REALLY great book I'm about to finish that poses a similar question...except instead of the moon, it's Mars. It's called "The Martian" by Andy Weir. An astronaut is left behind on Mars and has to survive until he can be rescued...if that's even possible at all. It's REALLY good - I'd recommend it!
Would love to throw ny two cents in and suggest "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville, and generally books by Neil Gaiman. My favourites are "Neverwhere" and "American Gods". These are truly entertaining books! If you want a great series to follow (I often find myself reading more whilst following a series), I would go for Stephen Kings "Dark Tower" books, take a look at the wiki [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series).
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman.
Try the short story A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury for the concept of parallel universes (or at least the Many-worlds interpretation of parallel universes).
The books that I'd recommend are:
Another series that's been recommended to me that I haven't read is the Merchant Princes series.
Just finished the third book in the Codex Alera series. I'm working on Ilium, but need to return it to the library tomorrow (already renewed once an can't do so again) and won't stand a chance of finishing it.
These various “desirable” scientific achievements are just one more example of what Frédéric Bastiat called that which is seen. You can always see clearly what the government has created. The fallacy is to not think about the unseen: What would people have done with the resources had they not been confiscated from them in the first place?
Ayn Rand said it very well too:
> “The unanswered and unanswerable question in all of their “desirable” goals is: To whom? Desires and goals presuppose beneficiaries. Is science desirable? To whom? Not to the Soviet serfs who die of epidemics, filth, starvation, terror and firing squads—while some bright young men wave to them from space capsules circling over their human pigsties. And not to the American father who died of heart failure brought on by overwork, struggling to send his son through college—or to the boy who could not afford college—or to the couple killed in an automobile wreck, because they could not afford a new car—or to the mother who lost her child because she could not afford to send him to the best hospital—not to any of those people whose taxes pay for the support of our subsidized science and public research projects.” (The Virtue of Selfishness, Chapter 10: Collectivized Ethics, 1963.)
I both agree and disagree.
I agree that it is unlikely to happen, certainly nowhere near the scale of the BBS scene. But I disagree that all of the conveniences you outline (which BTW are fictionalized quite well in Daniel Suarez' Daemon and Freedom novels) are absolutely necessary to make it big enough to make a difference.
Indra Sinha's book Cybergypsies is an interesting read from the era of the late 80's. Most of it revolves around MUDs, viruses, and the interesting people online at the time, but Indra's BBS connections were very important in supporting his political activism, leading to some influence on real events related to the Kurds in Iraq War I.
> An alternative network like that won't going to matter much if only the technically inclined can use it.
Depends on what you value. If you just want a few dozen people to talk to on a regular basis, the "technically inclined" is still a pretty big pool to find friends in. If you are involved in real journalism or political activism, you only need about a hundred thousand people in the network to make a very strong impact. Look at TOR and I2P today: almost no one relative to the total population use them, yet they are in the news pretty frequently.
Not trying to be a pedant but for anyone trying to find the book the title is spelled Daemon. Definitely second the recommendation though, I loved the book. I'd also recommend the sequel, Freedom^^TM.
May I also recommend Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card, as long as we're talking alternate OSC greats.
Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card involves altering a historical figure's fate through time travel.
The basic premise is that in the future, scientists can monitor any person at any point in the past. A small group dedicated to studying slavery starts to follow Christopher Columbus and determine what drove him West. They discover he was visited by what he believes to be an angel, but they recognize as a person from the future, who instructs him on what to do to discover the Americas. Realizing the past can be altered (and already has), three people are sent back in time to prepare the Native Americans for the first contact, so they can understand not just Columbus' language, but culture and religion. The plan is to turn him from conqueror to partner and prevent the genocide of the Native Americans.
I picked it up randomly from a thrift store years ago, and really enjoyed it. You can tell Card put a good amount of effort into historical research, which adds a lot of flavor to the story. I know Card's a nutter, but he manages to keep it in check, despite the religious nature of the story.
The Myst series, in chronological setting order (not release order), are:
The three Myst novels are also collected into a single volume called the Myst Reader, although they're still available individually.
Myst, Riven, Myst V, and Uru are all available online in various forms, such as via GOG or Steam. Myst III and Myst IV are currently only available as a hardcopy purchase and may not work on modern systems.
How about Old Man's War, by John Scalzi? I can lend it to you if you have a Kindle or the Kindle Reading App installed on any of your devices. Have a look and see if you want to borrow. :-)
John Scalzi's Hugo Award winning series:
Old Man's War
The Ghost Brigades
The Last Colony
Zoe's Tale
The Human Division
Jorg, Moon, and Harry would probably be my favorites from this list, though the others are quite good too.
Jorg Ancrath--Broken Empire Trilogy: It's hard to beat Jorg when it comes to interesting main characters. He's such an absolute bastard that it makes you want to keep reading just to see what he'll do next.
Harry Dresden--Dresden Files: Chicago's own wizard for hire, it's fun to see what sort of situation he'll find himself in next. He likest to crack jokes and fight above his weight class. Get's his ass handed to him a lot.
Moon--Books of the Raksura: Moon's always been an outcast, chased from town to town. Which makes sense, considering he sometimes looks like a monster. The loneliness has changed him, and he tends not to speak his thoughts aloud.
James Stark--Sandman Slim: After spending 11 years in hell, James Stark is back for revenge. He knows the people who sent him there, and he won't rest until they're dead.
The Demon--Demon of Cliffside: The Demon doesn't actually have a name and she's been in Cliffside since before there was a city. She's ambivalent towards the people of the city, but in the past she inspired bloody legends. A very alien point of view.
Drothe--Tales of the Kin: Ever hear the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none?" That would be Drothe. It was such a refreshing change of pace to see that in a main character.
This is probably something i would consider...
There's also The Myst Reader, which is all three books in one.
There are a couple of dictionaries around. The problem is that you still need a vocabulary. It's not a simple substitution from English. Even when you have all the words in a sentence, you can't just substitute the D'ni words. You have to apply the grammar rules as well, or the sentence doesn't make any sense. The only time we get new words is when a new game comes out or when Rawa speaks.
Richard A. Watson is the real life "continuity" guy for Cyan industries, and basically the official keeper of the lore and translator for D'ni. His persona within the Myst universe is known as Rawa. When he (the Cyan employee) speaks as his game persona (RAWA), he is taken as an official sorce on lore and language.
Here's a PDF containing all his explanations, posts and corrections from the Myst, Riven, and Uru message boards dealing with the D'ni language and culture.
http://www.allthingsuru.com/AllThingsUru/pdf/The%20Watson%20Letters.pdf
And here's a collected dictionary, 80% of which is from him and the other 20% is from the games and/or the books written by David Wingrove. This site is more or less the definitive guide since the "D'ni Desk Reference" website disappeared about 5 years ago.
http://www.eldalamberon.com/dni_dict.htm
And here's an English to D'ni vocabulary.
http://www.guildofarchivists.org/archive/_/dni-dictionary---english-->-dni-r812
David Wingrove was the "Ghost Writer" for the novels. He took a couple of liberties with lore and how stuff works to be able to fit everything into a coherent narrative, but is more or less correct, and there is quite a bit of D'ni and translations contained within the pages of the 3 books he helped write.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817
Myst- by Robyn and Rand Miller ( 3 books, or combined into 1 "Myst Reader" with "The Book of Ti'ana being my favorite, the most thrilling, and currently being made into a motion picture)
If you've played the popular PC puzzle game series, this book series provides the backstory which many didn't know existed. The series (3 books) follows the character Atrus as he discovers that his ancestors were part of the once great D'ni civilization, a people who held the power to create worlds simply by placing words to paper. Anything imaginable could be created and visited/linked to. However this once great civilization was destroyed by a terrible tragedy of death, betrayal, sadness, and greed to which Atrus discovers that his grandmother had been the one responsible. The book series documents how his grandmother (Anna/Ti'ana) found the civilization, unknowingly played a part in its destruction, and Atrus's efforts to rebuild the once great D'ni civilization without letting the power get to his head and fashioning himself as a god like his father.
This book was a huge inspiration in my life. Throughout the book Atrus's grandmother is constantly telling him to look at "the Whole" to see the big picture without thinking too rashly. This motif is the inspiration behind the puzzle aspect of the PC version of the books. With themes of love, loyalty, adventure, and discovery, the books have something exciting for everyone. Also the book (and PC game) does a wonderful job of providing details, sketches, and descriptions of the lost civilization and it's language, something which inspired my love for history, anthropology, and was a big motivator in helping me into my current career as an Archaeologist
I hope that wasn't too long-winded :)
Amazon link to the Myst Reader, containg all 3 books of the trilogy
Amazon link to my favorite book of the trilogy "The Book of Ti'ana", check out the rave reviews!
Other books include: Timeline, The Silmarillion (my favorite book ever), any of Tolkien's other works, and GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series
All three in one
https://www.amazon.ca/Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817
For more on the history of Doom and Quake's development, check out the book Masters of Doom which chronicles both John Carmack's and John Romero's lives, and includes anecdotes from Michael Abrash.
You might also be interested in reading Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, published in 1997 as a compilation of Michael's writings on assembly and graphics programming, as well as a specific chapter on Doom and Quake technology. It is fully available for free online.
The "Metaverse" that Michael Abrash references in his announcement is from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. His vision of a virtual reality that inspired so many others is described on pages 23 to 27 from that novel and can be read online for free.
Paid reviews are why I don't pay much attention to individual reviews, but the distribution of the ratings. Take Stephenson's Snow Crash, for example. 44 people gave it one star, but more people gave it two, and on up until 444 people gave it five stars. The distribution can be manipulated, too, but it's more difficult to because there are many honest reviewers as well.
A good distribution of ratings doesn't mean I'll like it, but at least it give me
domesome indication. Look at Fifty Shades of Grey. You either love it or hate it; I suspect I'd be in the latter.Edit: typo
Another vote for Snowcrash - and a link.
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Novel-Neal-Stephenson-ebook/dp/B000FBJCJE/
Fiction Books
Cryptonomicon - Very few books make up a cypher system based on playing cards, have a story that spans WW2 through the present day and in large part revolve around creating an alternate digital currency, a data haven and startup life.
Neuromancer - this is the book that created cyberpunk and that inspired all those bad movie ideas about hacking in 3D systems. That being said, it marked a real turning point in SciFi. Without this book "cyber" security specialists would probably be called something else.
Snow Crash - This is much more breezy than the other two but still has very recognizable hacking/security elements to it and is just fun.
Non Fiction
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - This isn't a book about technology so much as deduction and figuring things out (while being hilariously entertaining).
I included all these here in large part because they are what inspired me to get into development and sysadmin work and I bet that I'm about 20 years older than you if you're just getting into the field - so there's a decent chance that your coworkers are into them too.
I don't know if 'beautifully written' is the way I would describe it, but the first 100 pages of Snow Crash are amazing. Read the 'Look Inside' at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBJCJE/
The story slows down after that, but I think it's still a fun read.
"I love tech and sci-fi"
Well I have lists to give you but here are some that will absolutely get you into reading
Old Man's war by John Scalzi
Foundation by Issac Asimov
Dune by Frank Herbert
These were free when I got them, and they were wonderful!
Suite Scarlett
Wool
Old Man's War
Lethal People
Maybe try Old Mans War by John Scalzi. It a very fast read, has a nice dry wit, and has to do with humanity waging war far off-planet with alien species. Has some very neat body modification twists early on.
The books that got me hooked on fantasy were Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, starting with Storm Front. The main character is a badass wizard who works as a private eye. They're funny and really well plotted, definitely a good place to start if you're trying to get back into reading.
You mentioned you liked modern in your one of your replies. Harry Dresden gets stronger over the course of the Dresden Files, but it's a gradual process. That said, after 14 books, he's a pretty major badass.
If you don't mind something slightly less modern (there are trains and guns, but no current tech), I'd recommend Mother of Learning. It focuses on a mage school, ala Harry Potter, but in a groundhog's day style loop. The main character has to level up drastically over time.
https://www.amazon.com/Second-After-John-Matherson-Novel-ebook/dp/B002LATV16
I am showing a sample for Leviathan Wakes. What country are you in, maybe there's a region thing that has been overlooked by someone.
https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Click on the cover, where it says 'Look Inside'. Make sure you are on the 'Kindle' tab and on the left you'll see the control to send a sample to your device.
You can switch to the Print Book tab and read the sample in your browser as well.
Yes, the books (by James S.A. Corey) are much easier to get in to and help when watching the show. Here is the first book: Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1).
Have you read Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey? It's the first book of the Expanse series - good stuff.
Very. https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G/
Oh, I would definitely NOT start with American Gods. It's good, but it's a bit of a bear to get through at times. Neverwhere or Stardust for Gaiman, for sure. I have a beat up old copy of Neverwhere that tends to live in one of my purses most of hte time. It is one of my very favorite books. You can read the first bit of it for free on Amazon using the "look inside" thingie.
http://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-A-Novel-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060557818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397008517&sr=8-1&keywords=neverwhere
American Gods
Neverwhere
Alan Rickman with a goofy smile.
Also:
Protege of Alan Moore, wrote one of the best comic series to come out of the industry, then did some books, including one co-authored with Terry Pratchett. Has a writing blog that's worth a look, too.
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Wasn't there a Family Guy episode where Stewie visits an alternate reality?
I'd also like to mention Anathem by Neal Stephenson? Sorry, I know it isn't a movie or show.
Anathem
The thing is, nobody generally cares about all of your 24 hours. I mean, you're sleeping for a third of them, most likely. And even then, even your waking hours are probably not all of equal importance, even to you, in retrospect. I suspect that if I asked you what you did last Thursday, you could probably remember a few of those hours, but even your own memory is highly edited around the salient and important points. And if I asked you about those hours in a month, unless there was some seriously significant stuff happening then, you probably won't recall them. And in a year? Forget it.
Neal Stephenson has a wonderful conceit in his (wonderful) novel _Anathem_ where once a year, one group of people write down everything that they think has been important that year in a chronicle. Once every ten years, someone else goes over those and distills down what they think is still important. Once every hundred years, someone else goes over all of the ten-year chronicles and weeds out everything that in retrospect has been less important. And every thousand years, someone else does the same thing to that data set. It's a wonderful play on the notion that when one is concentrated on the present, everything seems important, but when one takes a longer view of time, some things that seemed important at the time seem less important, and some things that seemed unimportant at the time seem vital.
(All of this is to acknowledge, of course, that "importance" is a subjective thing, and historians themselves have over the years made strong arguments that many of the items of history neglected as unimportant are, in fact, important.)
In any case, history is not chronicle. It is not meant to be a perfect record of things. It is not a recording of the past for past's sake, either — it is not antiquarianism. History is about finding order and synthesis in the past, about understanding causes and effects, and about making a broad sense of what happened. It is a synthetic discipline; it is a craft, not a rote recording of data. No historian tries for that level of comprehensiveness, and indeed, it would be undermining to the whole enterprise to aspire to it. Because the story of, say, World War I, is not to be found in a minute-by-minute understanding of the individual lives of those involved — it is found in a proper appreciation of where the broad and the specific meet up, a balance between the global and the personal, the kind of weaving of narrative and causes that the best historians can pull off. No historian I know makes pretentions for epistemological completeness, even in their "microhistories."
That being said, I have an article I've been working on which literally follows a certain event minute-by-minute, but even then, there are huge gaps and uncertainties, but it is in those gaps and uncertainties that history becomes interpretive, speculative, debatable, and, well, fun.
Here. Heads up though-- parts of it are extremely technical and a little dry, but if you power that the story is great
Swan Song - Robert McCammon Of the books I read last year this was my favorite.
Old Man's War - John Scazi - It's a pretty fun Military Sci-fi series
Leviathan Wakes - S. A. Corey - Near space, space opera.
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson - Epic Fantasy with an interesting magic system, good place to start with a popular author
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie - "Grimm Dark" fantasy, he does an interesting thing by playing with a LotR style quest.
The Black Prism - Brent Weeks - Interesting Magic system, one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series. Much better than his first trilogy IMHO
Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - Funny urban fantasy series that takes place in London
His Majesty's Dragon - Namoi Novik - Napoleonic* war + dragon's, fun quick reads.
Sevenes - Neal Stephenson - Stand Alone sci-fi novel about human's trying to survive in space as the world ends.
I can suggest more if you want, and I assume you've probably read at least some of these. Hope you enjoy some of them at least though.
Neil Stephenson wrote Seveneves with this premise, and it's supposedly somewhat scientifically accurate. Basically the debris would keep smashing itself into pieces that would spin off into the earth, and the constant bombardment would heat the atmosphere up and kill all life (except maybe some things in the deeper parts of the ocean).
Dearest u/throwawayso30 , wishing you all the best for your surgery tomorrow and I hope the recovery is as swift and painless as possible. You're one amazing, sexy, badass woman, you got this!
Also u/janedoesquestion , what a lovely human being you are. The fact that there are people in the world who care about others like you do makes things seem not so bad, after all. Thank you for being awesome :)
I'd love to give a book idea, but everything I can think of seems a bit too dark... hmmm. Oh, what about The Time Traveller's Wife? I'm not a fan of 'love' type stories but a friend of mine made me read it and it was really good. Hope you get some great suggestions! :)
My personal favorites are The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and anything by Madeline L'Engle, S.E. Hinton, or Zadie Smith.
This has been done a few times, unfortunately it is a difficult thing to search for, and I can't recall the names of any of the books. (I haven't read any) Two I came across are:
"I, Lucifer: Finally, the Other Side of the Story" by Glen Duncan
and
"To Reign in Hell" by Steven Brust
Maybe some fine redditors will pop up and mention more.
To Reign in hell by Steven Brust is a good take on the god/satan relationship. Along with an interesting version on the creation of the earth and heavens.
http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Hell-Novel-Steven-Brust/dp/0312870493
Dragon's Egg - Robert Forward
Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection
Don Roff, Chris Lane
Day by Day Armageddon
J. L. Bourne
Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile
J. L. Bourne
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart
Swan Song
Robert McCammon
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
edit: This covers a good array of subjects on different ways the world might perish. All fiction also.
These are books which I have read twice or more and would read again and again on the topic of post-collapse:
Alas Babylon
On the Beach
The Postman - not like the movie with Kevin Costner (just based upon and quite different)
One Second After - currently the most realistic and scariest of the bunch I think.
Earth Abides
Lucifer's Hammer - this one I wouldn't read without many years between as the start is sooooo slow but the second half is good.
I really enjoyed Earth Abides.
Earth Abides is set in Berkeley, California after a plague apocalypse. The tech is a bit out of date (written in 1949) but the principles of when power and water (aquifers) would fail, when vehicles and guns would lose their viability, etc make a nice starting point. Can probably find it at the library or Half Price books fairly easily.
Science Fiction : Ray Bradbury - His books are classic , also Earth Abides by George R.Steward
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk has a lot of the elements you're looking for, albeit in highly disturbing and bizarre contexts. Like most of Palahniuk's work, you just feel kinda gross when you're finished with it. I haven't read Invisible Monsters Remix, but apparently it's basically the same story, but in a "Choose your own adventure" format.
I knew I recognized that. https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Monsters-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393319296
Your toes are so messed up... but the pictures are awesome and you seem like a totally cool person. Recommended read while recuperating:
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Monsters-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393319296/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382153316&sr=1-1&keywords=invisible+monsters
> Perhaps you'd care to disclose the particulars of the metaphysical pincicples that cash out capitalism, and what the rational/axiomatic justification is for accepting them, then?
This is a start - http://campus.aynrand.org/more/selected-full-essays/
I know I sound like a broken record but it really helps to read and grok before seeking out discussions or debates.
Finally, the ARI offers some decent academic courses on Objectivism.,
Ok, sure, but Rand was definitely talking about the former. She literally wrote a book about it: https://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Fiftieth-Anniversary/dp/0451163931
http://amzn.com/0451163931 ಠ_ಠ
Looks like you guys haven't read Freedom^TM
Do you have any interest in nonfiction? I generally like to go back and forth between the two.
As far as fiction, check out Daemon and Freedom.
http://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-Novel-Three-John-Scalzi/dp/0765334798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463095581&sr=8-1&keywords=redshirts
Pretty much, the crew of a spaceship discovers that they are actually fictional characters, and manipulate the plot in order to escape into the real world. It's... pretty amusing.
Willful Child is another book in similar literary style (sorta absurdity sci-fi)
https://www.amazon.com/Willful-Child-Steven-Erikson-ebook/dp/B00ILY5BY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463095828&sr=1-1&keywords=willful+child
Redshirts is good if you want a comedy-scifi. Basically "What if the crew on Star Trek knew they were expendable extras".
It's lighthearted, fairly fast paced, and has a decently interesting plot. While also not being so complicated and convoluted that you can get lost if you forget a section.
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804139024/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8
This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).
I'm also not much of a sci-fi reader, so I may not be the most qualified person to make a recommendation. However, I recently read The Martian by Andy Wier and I couldn't put it down. Most of it is first-person journal entries, which I'm not usually a fan of, but it Weir makes it work beautifully.
Further reading/research: (Not all of which I've gotten to read yet. Some of which may be quite tangentially relevant to the discussion at hand along with the books and sites I mentioned above. Consider this more a list of books pertaining to the history of technology, machining, metrology, some general science and good engineering texts.)
Dan Gelbart's Youtube Channel
Engineerguy's Youtube Channel
Nick Mueller's Youtube Channel
mrpete222/tubalcain's youtube channel
Tom Lipton (oxtools) Youtube Channel
Suburban Tool's Youtube Channel
NYCNC's Youtube Channel
Computer History Museum's Youtube Channel
History of Machine Tools, 1700-1910 by Steeds
Studies in the History of Machine Tools by Woodbury
A History of Machine Tools by Bradley
Tools for the Job: A History of Machine Tools to 1950 by The Science Museum
A History of Engineering Metrology by Hume
Tools and Machines by Barnard
The Testing of Machine Tools by Burley
Modern machine shop tools, their construction, operation and manipulation, including both hand and machine tools: a book of practical instruction by Humphrey & Dervoort
Machine-Shop Tools and Methods by Leonard
A Measure of All Things: The Story of Man and Measurement by Whitelaw
Handbook of Optical Metrology: Principles and Applications by Yoshizawa
Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon by Gray
Machine Shop Training Course Vol 1 & 2 by Jones
A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882-1982
Numerical Control: Making a New Technology by Reintjes
History of Strength of Materials by Timoshenko
Rust: The Longest War by Waldman
The Companion Reference Book on Dial and Test Indicators: Based on our popular website www.longislandindicator.com by Meyer
Optical Shop Testing by Malacara
Lost Moon: The Preilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Lovell and Kruger
Kelly: More Than My Share of It All by Johnson & Smith
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Rich & Janos
Unwritten Laws of Engineering by King
Advanced Machine Work by Smith
Accurate Tool Work by Goodrich
Optical Tooling, for Precise Manufacture and Alignment by Kissam
The Martian: A Novel by Weir
Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain by Young Budynas & Sadegh
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design by Ashby
Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer by Shute
Cosmos by Sagan
Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook by Smith Carol Smith wrote a number of other great books such as Engineer to Win.
Tool & Cutter Sharpening by Hall
Handbook of Machine Tool Analysis by Marinescu, Ispas & Boboc
The Intel Trinity by Malone
Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Thompson
A Handbook on Tool Room Grinding
Tolerance Design: A Handbook for Developing Optimal Specifications by Creveling
Inspection and Gaging by Kennedy
Precision Engineering by Evans
Procedures in Experimental Physics by Strong
Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes or How They Did it in the 1870's by Dick
Flextures: Elements of Elastic Mechanisms by Smith
Precision Engineering by Venkatesh & Izman
Metal Cutting Theory and Practice by Stephenson & Agapiou
American Lathe Builders, 1810-1910 by Cope As mentioned in the above post, Kennth Cope did a series of books on early machine tool builders. This is one of them.
Shop Theory by Henry Ford Trade Shop
Learning the lost Art of Hand Scraping: From Eight Classic Machine Shop Textbooks A small collection of articles combined in one small book. Lindsay Publications was a smallish company that would collect, reprint or combine public domain source material related to machining and sell them at reasonable prices. They retired a few years ago and sold what rights and materials they had to another company.
How Round Is Your Circle?: Where Engineering and Mathematics Meet by Bryant & Sangwin
Machining & CNC Technology by Fitzpatrick
CNC Programming Handbook by Smid
Machine Shop Practice Vol 1 & 2 by Moltrecht
The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles A fantastic book with tons of free online material, labs, and courses built around it. This book could take a 6th grader interested in learning, and teach them the fundamentals from scratch to design a basic computer processor and programming a simple OS etc.
Bosch Automotive Handbook by Bosch
Trajectory Planning for Automatic Machines and Robots by Biagiotti & Melchiorri
The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals by Zhu, Zienkiewicz and Taylor
Practical Treatise on Milling and Milling Machines by Brown & Sharpe
Grinding Technology by Krar & Oswold
Principles of Precision Engineering by Nakazawa & Takeguchi
Foundations of Ultra-Precision Mechanism Design by Smith
I.C.S. Reference Library, Volume 50: Working Chilled Iron, Planer Work, Shaper and Slotter Work, Drilling and Boring, Milling-Machine Work, Gear Calculations, Gear Cutting
I. C. S. Reference Library, Volume 51: Grinding, Bench, Vise, and Floor Work, Erecting, Shop Hints, Toolmaking, Gauges and Gauge Making, Dies and Die Making, Jigs and Jig Making
and many more ICS books on various engineering, technical and non-technical topics.
American Machinists' Handbook and Dictionary of Shop Terms: A Reference Book of Machine-Shop and Drawing-Room Data, Methods and Definitions, Seventh Edition by Colvin & Stanley
Modern Metal Cutting: A Practical Handbook by Sandvik
Mechanical Behavior of Materials by Dowling
Engineering Design by Dieter and Schmidt
[Creative Design of Products and Systems by Saeed]()
English and American Tool Builders by Roe
Machine Design by Norton
Control Systems by Nise
That doesn't include some random books I've found when traveling and visiting used book stores. :)
Don't you know what happens when you get involved?
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is a great urban fantasy story that takes place in the unseen world below London and includes some magic, adventure and a great mystery.
If you haven't read the Chronicles of Narnia try those. After you get past the Christian allegories in the first book the series is enjoyable. If you have read them check out His Dark Materials. Another great book that has been called the atheists' response to Narnia.
China Mieville's Perdido Street Station would be a good one too. Definitely darker than the fantasy in Harry Potter but well written and a great story.
The Hunger Games trilogy has been mentioned a few times and is enjoyable. It is more Science Fiction than fantasy but is a great dystopian story. Written for YAs, like Harry Potter, but enjoyable for just about anyone.They're making a Hunger Games movie now so you'll be able to say you read it back before it was cool.
Edit: Forgot to mention The Dark Tower Series. A great series by Steven King that combines fantasy, western, science fiction and some horror. That sounds like a hodgepodge but the series manages to walk the line so well you end up staying awake until 2am reading to find out what happens next.
My two favorites are Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff.
Not quite in the same vein—perhaps bordering more on magical realism—is Lewis Shiner's Glimpses.
You're going to love it!
As a Gaiman related aside, Neverwhere is top notch and I personally think that Fragile Things is his finest story collection. Some real gems in that one.
This isn't representative of the last five books I've read though, since I try to read books from the public library and my university's library. Also, I bought a cookbook and a book on algorithms after the Stieg Larsson book, but I figured we weren't including those kinds of books.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Check out Cumulus. Freaking wonderful.
Also, Stephenson's Seveneves could be considered distopian..either way it's some badass hard scifi.
I am interested in reading Seveneves next. You can listen to it free on YouTube.
you mentioned being a fangirl; i've been reading some amazing, recent sci fi works written by women authors lately, maybe you'd find them interesting? all 3 of these are among the absolute best sci fi i've ever read:
the time traveller's wife by audrey niffenegger
^ forget about the movie, the book is fantastic
oryx and crake by margaret atwood
^ nice and dark
lilith's brood by octavia e. butler
^ amazon reviews calls it "profoundly evocative, sensual -- and disturbing", which sums it up pretty well
My Favorite Book!
My favorite book is/was [The Time Traveler's Wife] (http://www.amazon.com/Time-Travelers-Wife-Audrey-Niffenegger/dp/015602943X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367865701&sr=8-1&keywords=time+travelers+wife). It was such a beautiful love story and I loved the idea behind it. I cried when I read the ending (don't worry I won't spoil it). It is basically about a man who does not have control of his time traveling and meets his future wife when she is a small child. It makes you think.
I am a huge book reader and have a lot of books to read, but I am like you in that I am always looking for a new good book. [Here is my Wishlist, feel free to look for some good books here too!] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1BGV2L2FWNXQM/ref=topnav_lists_3)
This is $0.01 used! I've been looking to read more and I've heard good things about this book! Thank you for the contest!
http://www.amazon.com/To-Reign-Hell-A-Novel/dp/0312870493
To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Hell-Novel-Steven-Brust/dp/0312870493
Steven Brust's "To Reign in Hell"" http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Hell-Novel-Steven-Brust/dp/0312870493
An interesting telling of the fall of the angels, it was one of the first books I read that really made me think about taking other people's perspectives.
Highly recommended and relevant.
Read "The Dragon's Egg" by Robert L. Forward for a very cool look at what life would be like on the surface of a neutron star.
I really enjoyed Dragon's Egg. I can't really describe it. Just decides to have life evolve upon a Neutron star, and takes it from there rather amazingly.
http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Egg-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/034543529X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252318775&sr=1-1
Try Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon or Walter John William's Hrdwired for some good cyberpunk. For a good post-apocalypse novel you might like Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.
Those non-perishable food stores would be depleted. 7 billion people aren't going to die over night.
The spread of the virus will be swift. One of the causes of the 1918 epidemic was increased travel. Times that factor by about a thousand, now. Air travel is a virus's best friend. So, it's going to get everywhere, fast.
What will be different from the 1918 epidemic is that less of the world now suffers from contributory factors that existed in 1918. So even though the spread would be more rapid, people would be able to hold on longer before finally succumbing. This extended timeline means you have to provide services to them. Water and food being the top of the list.
The production of necessities would drop to zero or near zero before the final curtain drops. (Workers are sick or dead, or have fled to where they think they will be safe.) Those stocked stores and warehouses would be cleaned out in a matter of a couple of months. Probably weeks.
Lets remember, for the sake of this scenario, the mortality rate is ultimately going to be 98%. No matter what.
Technology: Forget about it. You'll lose electricity within weeks of the final death toll. Those plants need constant attention. Then add in the nuclear plants melting down. All of them going down around the world at the same time is going to create another wave of death, and create uninhabitable lands.
You'll have cars for a little bit, but that will disappear quickly.
If you're sticking to the OP's two year scenario, yes, with the exception of the food, there would be things that would work for awhile. But I said at the outset that I was addressing further down the road. Two years is just everyone still in shock and digging for potatoes. Things are going to change and evolve from the initial few years.
Remember, there are only 140,000,000 people in the entire world. No idea how many people have what skill sets, where they are: widely dispersed, pockets of them highly concentrated in certain areas. That's not very many people. But they're going to be widely distributed around the planet.
We have 326,000,000 people in the U.S. So out of 140,000,000 survivors around the world, how many do you realistically think will be here, or in any country for that matter.
The best book I've ever read on this scenario, and I'm sure most people in this sub have read is, Earth Abides, by John Stewart. It's fiction, but it's a pretty good representation of what this would be like.
More of a Bry book but The Earth Abides
The Hyperion and Ilium books by Dan Simmons both have the kind of narrative weight that KKC does, though both are a hardish Sci-Fi.
Ilium by Dan Simmons (of Hyperion Cantos fame)
Description from Amazon:
>The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars -- observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family -- and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth -- as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet.
Now my notes: Just like the Hyperion Cantos, this pair of books (the sequel is Olympos) is an epic. Unlike the Hyperion Cantos, Ilium/Olympos do not take place over a few hundred years, but it is an epic because of the grand scale in which the story takes place. It's got a little bit of everything for everyone. The basic sci-fi is on point, there's enough technology and far future to satisfy any sci-fi junky. There's quite a bit of history in the way that part of it is a retelling of Homer's Iliad. Keep in mind that the portion that is in the book isn't based on the Iliad in the same sense that Oh Brother Where Art Thou is loosely based on the Odyssey, but closer to how Romeo + Juliet is based on Shakespeare. It also has a few really awesome romance plot lines, as well as some really fucked up ones. I haven't read it in about three years, but I have read it thrice through, every page, every word, so the details are a bit hazy. My overall impression was one of being awestruck. I have nothing ill to say about this book, it is a work of art.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge - Absolutely fantastic. Full of well-fleshed-out technology, a great understanding of actual science. Top notch storytelling with a complex setting to back it up. I think Vinge writes some of the most exciting scifi narrative out there.
After you read Hyperion, get Ilium, also by Dan Simmons. Kind of a cool reinterpretation/continuation of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War. Has a cliff-hanger of an ending that picks up again in the sequel Olympos. I didn't like Olympos quite as much, though.
Looks like you could use some direction in a comforting form. Some books to consider:
The Tao of Pooh
A great little book to get you to look at things differently at times. I wont go deep, but I think the reviews on amazon give you a good idea of what to expect. It's quite short as well, so it wont be some huge commitment.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
This is not a manual for repairing motorcycles. No, it's a work of fiction that helps you find a more "zen" approach to live. Have you seen "The Big Lebowski"? Yeah, it defends the values in finding peace in the world around you, even if things don't always go smoothly.
Invisible Monsters
Finally a book for embracing and confronting that anger and hurt you have built up. Palahniuk is just the author for the job. Don't read the synopsis and DON'T get the silly remixed version of the book. I've known people who have found this book life changing. It seems to really speak to women.
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk - A fashion model gets her jaw shot off in a terrible situation, and so the silent protagonist must reclaim her life. (Highly recommend reading the first chapter in the preview on Amazon. Also highly recommend Haunted by Palahniuk as well.)
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. Wonderful book that delves into the psychology behind language. Incredibly informative while maintaining entertainment.
Invisible Monsters really messed with me when I read it as a freshman in high school.
I get the feeling you may not be American, but the idea is the same http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Centennial-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426941297&sr=1-1&keywords=virtue+of+selfishness
I was never really interested in AR and then I read these two books. Freed is the sequel and is when you really get into a lot of really cool AR stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451228731
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451231899
That's a really good book. http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451231899
Daemon and Freedom. Great books about a game developer that dies and leaves behind a Daemon that does some cool stuff (no spoilers).
Highly Recommended if you are a tech/geek/science/internet fan. It is based in the real world, current time and technology so it is really believable.
I think you missed my point.
I'm not worried about AI becoming independent. I'm worried about how people will use it as a weapon against other people.
I don't know if you've ever read Dune but that is why Machine Intelligence was outlawed in that Universe. The prequels (Butlerian Jihad) were written by someone else, but based on Frank Herbert's notes. The writing isn't near as good as Herbert's but the outline of the story is what he intended.
Basically human civilization allowed itself to become dependent on AI, and then a group of about 20 people used that dependence, hacked the systems and turned them against everyone, using them to conquer all the dependent worlds.
These two books are science fiction, but they give an idea of how AI controlled cars could be used as weapons.
https://www.amazon.com/DAEMON-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451228731/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1491424210&sr=8-3&keywords=daniel+suarez
https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/0451231899/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1491424210&sr=8-5&keywords=daniel+suarez
For a cheaper but likewise more modern version of the concept, there were devices in the book Freedom^TM called "Angel's Teeth" which were essentially slightly larger flechette's with embedded sensors and small servo driven control surfaces to lock on to man-sized heat signatures and home in on them. They could be launched a dozen at a time in an artillary round.
Good read, I recommend it. Start with the book before it, of course.
I fully share your interest in trying to find stories, narrative or scenarios featuring cryptocurrency. My personal conclusion is that the future got bigger and different after bitcoin, in ways that were considered practically impossible before, and we will need a new generation of science fiction.
While Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which I have only skimmed, deals with crypto-currency it is NOT the descentralized kind, which is in my opinion the truly revolutionary aspect of bitcoin.
The more suggestive work I can think of is Daniel Suarez's Daemon and the sequel, Freedom, which don't deal directly with cryptocurrency, but the whole conceit of the books --a self-sustaining civilization-altering program unleashed after the death of its author-- is curiously homomorphic to bitcoin.
It's not fiction, but I like David Friedman e-money scenarios in his 2008 Future Imperfect: Technology and Freedom in an Uncertain World. He writes just before bitcoin was unleashed unto the world!
Cory Doctorow's Down and out in the magic kingdom deals with Whuffie, a reputation-based "ambient" currency for a post-scarcity economy. The interesting part is that with colored coins, it could be very much implemented with bitcoins.
Daemon and Freedom™. They're techno thrillers.
Read 'Redshirts' by John Scalzi...
http://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-A-Novel-Three-Codas/dp/0765334798
Imagine this joke as a novel.
> Imzadi, Q-Squared and the New Frontier series by Peter David
Peter David is my all-time favorite Star Trek author, and his New Frontier series quickly became my favorite book series. I think I've read through it three times, in it's entirety.
Though I know we're talking about Star Trek books specifically, Redshirts by John Scalzi isn't set in the Star Trek universe, but a pretty close interpretation of the TOS universe serves as the setting.
Currently reading The Martian by Andy Weir
Somewhat similar: http://www.amazon.com/Pastwatch-Christopher-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0812508645
This is a referall link from amazon used to make him money.
Use this link instead if you don't want to give him money.
I offer Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus for anyone who likes a good sci-fi book. Orson Scott Card does an amazing job of taking history and showing what could have been.
He had a lot of people help him with the historic accuracy, and it shows.
There's a book about the idea.
A total and self-contained trilogy about the world(s) of Myst was written. It is a fully fleshed out story and you do not have to have played the games to enjoy it. Its a pretty simple read and will not take much brain power, but i enjoy it, and if you're here, you may as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817/ref=pd_sbs_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1401307817&pd_rd_r=95P02ADYDYPVJ5HVMEMD&pd_rd_w=bEAlr&pd_rd_wg=sOZ5d&psc=1&refRID=95P02ADYDYPVJ5HVMEMD
The Myst Series is all about an underground city called D'ni. It fills in the backstory for the games and is overall pretty decent (Book of Ti'Ana is my favorite).
Amazon
Wikipedia
Maia by Richard Adams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_%28novel%29
The Myst Series by Rand Miller http://www.amazon.com/Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817
The Journeyer by Gary Jennings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journeyer
Yep. They're written (mostly) by Rand Miller. I think Robyn helped with one of them, but Rand did the others. I may have that backwards, but it's one of those ways. ANYWAY.
There are three books. You can get all three in one novel now called the Myst Reader. The first book, Book of Atrus is/was out of print and is harder to find, so the Myst Reader is a great resource if you want all three.
The books are The Book of Atrus: about his childhood, his meeting of Catherine, and his relationship with his fucked up father, Gehn, and his grandmother, Ti'ana; The Book of Ti'Ana: goes back in the past to show what happened to the D'ni, the people who created and perfected the Art of Writing Books (they're all capitalized in the books as well for a reason); and The Book of the D'ni: takes place after the first two and falls sometime after Riven, but before Exile. It's about Atrus and Catherine trying to rebuild what is left of the D'ni people and culture.
If you like Myst, the books really do flesh out what happened in the games much much more. Things click better. And, it makes the games more haunting, I feel. The only thing that isn't mentioned is the full extent of what Sirrus and Achenar did. I don't even think it's mentioned at all, actually.
Also, there's supposed to be two new books coming out sometime, but there's no information on when that might occur.
The novels were re-published and re-printed in 2004 in a collectors book. If you don't mind used copies, you can often pick the entire series up for less than $20 print, or $10 in ebook form.
https://www.amazon.com/Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJCJE/#nav-subnav
Most of this is copypasta from another reply on this thread, since it seemed silly to just rephrase all the things. Please note the last paragraph if none of these seem fun. I read a lot, mostly exclusively SF/F (both adult and YA), and boy do I have opinions on it. And if you're not a reader starting with YA is a thought. There's a lot of fun, intelligent YA out there now as publishers realize teens don't actually want to be treated like they're stupid.
For a low commitment (i.e. not part of a series), humorous start there's Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. I like a lot of Gaiman's work, which ranges from the strange and humorous (see: GO) to the strange and creepy (Anasazi Boys), but what I'd recommend from him depends on what you're looking for.
In the funny but harder scifi range I'd rec the beloved classic Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is seriously one of the wittiest books I've ever read besides being an action-packed scifi romp.
If you're interested in urban fantasy I have all the recs. Everything from Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series Book 1: Storm Front, for the grown-up wizard, to Seanan McGuire's October Daye series Book 1: Rosemary and Rue, if you're more into fae.
For the dark and more sexual (seriously, there is sex in these books) I highly recommend the Fever Series by Karen Moning, Book 1: Darkfever.
If you like SF/F books (like Discworld, Animorphs, etc.) let me know what subgenres (e.g. hard scifi, urban fantasy, urban scifi, fantasy romance, young adult _____ ) you think you might like and I guarantee you I have a recommendation or two. I read a lot.
Oh man. I would really like a Kindle Fire for the added functionality. I'd really enjoy it for being able to get children's books and putting movies on it for my son for those long road trips and such. It'd also be neat for getting some ebooks for some harder to find books. Would really like Snow Crash actually. One of those books I've been wanting to read since I was in high school, but never really had a chance at it.
Oh, and thank you for the wonderful contest. You're going to make somebody's day. Heh.
Metagame
Ready Player One
Snow Crash
Tom Clancy's Net Force series
Some great books already on this list, I'll add in a few that I would also recommend, or that I see come up a lot:
Have fun dude!
For some reason this didn't show up the first time I posted, so sorry if it shows up twice :-)
1
2 (Snow is kind of reminiscent of rain)
3 (food related because I would serve hot meals on it; unusual because it is multifunctional)
4 is for my two year old daughter because she has the normal version, but loves it so much (probably her favorite thing) that it is now in three pieces with the cover off and losing pages every day, but this one has a carry handle and is smaller for toddlers and easier to carry around.
5 You need to read it because I've been told I need to read it.
6
7 because Catwoman
8 The picture of beauty! :-)
9 Because it's a classic. . . it's sweet, has adventure, and teamwork. . . dinosaurs.
10 because it's a sword that I will always have with me because it's a keychain
11 I'm on my 4th week of P90x, and I hate yoga day because I can't do all the moves, so I don't have the desire to do it, but this would help on moves where I am not as flexible.
12 I want these so I can make necklaces with them.
13 Because it has a swingset and a playhouse and my daughter (and when he's older, my son too) would love this, and I love them very much. So seeing them happy makes me happy :-).
14
15 seeds are much smaller than golfballs
16 Nothing smells as good as a freshly bathed baby :-)
17
18 I could practice my letters and spelling (as long as each letter was only used once) :-)
19 My current obsession is being a mom! All of my other obsessions are geeky stuff, so this is perfect!
20 I know this really needs no explanation as to why it is so grand and awe-inspiring, but here are 10 good reasons. . . First of all, it's huge because it's a rug. Second of all, it is from one of the greatest movies of all time, Star Wars Episode V. Third, it looks sooooo soft (it's so fluffy, I'm going to die). Fourth, how many people do you know who have this in their home? Fifth, it has claws. Sixth, it's smiling. Seventh, you could hide under it during a home invasion. Eighth, you could cover up with it if your power went out in a snowstorm. Ninth, (since you love cats) I bet cats love laying on a wampa rug. Finally tenth, it would be the perfect addition to this boy's nursery (I've shown this picture a lot on RAoA, but I can't help it. He's too cute!)
Bonus Item 1 will be PMd to you when I found out your real name, not if but when :-)
Bonus Item 2 Looks yummy!
fear cuts deeper than swords
This was super fun by the way! Thanks!
I'm horrible.
I think you'd love this book.
You never know! Have you read his blog? I like him on fb so see a lot of his entries.
Jim Butcher writes The Dresden Files. They are urban fiction. Really good stuff. Here's the first one: [Storm Front] (http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Front-Dresden-Files-Butcher-ebook/dp/B000WH7PLS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398526941&sr=8-2&keywords=storm+front)
I'll go ahead and recommend The Dresden Files. It is a 15 book series and outside of a dog I hear they are really good. I have not read them yet, but they are on my to-read list.
I'm also a fan of this trope, though I didn't really realize it until now. If you're not adverse to fantasy as a genre, I've a couple of suggestions for you.
The Dresden Files has a couple of characters who are like this towards Harry Dresden, himself. It's not very prevalent in the first couple of books, but a theme starts to develop where Dresden starts to really doubt his own inherit goodness while his surrounding friends refuse to do the same. Two characters in particular (a priest and holy warrior of sorts) really strike that Myriel chord.
The other series may be a bit of stretch, but it was the first thing I though of: the Riyria Revelations by Michael Sullivan. It's a mostly light, entertaining fantasy series with a kind of buddy-cop relationship between the two main characters. One of those main characters, however, is a little morally grey and the other protagonist plays the role of believing in that he is actually a good man. Religion also plays a big part in the story, but neither protagonist is religious themselves (as far as I can remember.)
I don't think either of these are generally considered Young Adult, but they're both light, fast-paced reads like those in that genre tend to be.
Looks like StormFront also has a nice price at $2.99 for Kindle.
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Front-Dresden-Files-Book-ebook/dp/B000WH7PLS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
For digital:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000WH7PLS?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1
For physical:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000WH7PLS?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1
Also available in audio book form! (would recommend audible)
have fun!
My two most recent reads that were of this genre:
Patriots
One Second After
I'd like two recommendations: First, I usually read classic science fiction, but I'd love to branch out to something recently published after reading Leviathan Wakes. Something about space travel, with horror elements.
Second, I like to read to my 2yr old, but I'd like to enjoy it too. I've read the Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth.
You can read the first 30 pages of Leviathan Wakes on Amazon for free. That's what I did before buying it. http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G
Click on the cover thumbnail to "Look Inside"
Leviathan Wakes, Ready Player One, and Wool are probably my top 3.
Here is the mobile version of your link
I just started last night on my Kindle Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. I tend to pick up books when I first hear that they will be made into a movie/tv show. Apparently SyFy is basing a new series on LW. I did the same thing with the ASoIaF series, only reading them when I heard HBO was going to make a show called Game of Thrones.
It's not my theory, it's a book:
http://www.amazon.com/Pastwatch-Christopher-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0812508645/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311184745&sr=8-1
A one-shot by Orson Scott Card. It's a bit interesting, in that the theory goes that Columbus accidentally allowed human sacrifice to become a major thing in the world, because South American tribes were closer than anyone thought to being almost as technologically advanced as Europeans, so giving them a couple extra hundred years means they might win and spread their beliefs.
So the last timeline put Columbus in charge of an expedition, because he was the biggest European/Christian hero of the time. Send him to America to get rid of the human sacrifice future.
He replaced human sacrifice with slavery though, so they try to refine the past to improve the future again to get rid of slavery as a "thing".
Relevant (no gunpowder, though) cool ass book: Pastwatch.
Spoils go to the victors. That is the nature of human expansion from pre-historic times. If the natives would have not been so few in number and more powerful then things might have been different. But they were weak and it is their own fault they were conquered.
BTW, a phenomenal book on the subject of what the americas would have been like if Columbus would have gotten lost and given the natives a little more time to catch up, is "Pastwatch" by Orson Scott Card(author of Enders Game). https://www.amazon.com/Pastwatch-Christopher-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0812508645
Try Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card. It may be my favourite book. His writing isn't too complex, so it's easy to digest as well. But it's not overly simple like some modern vampire novels :|
I have a recommendation that's a bit off the beaten path, and which may seem a bit odd, but before I read LotR or Tolkien's works, I was a big fan of the Myst books by Rand and Robyn Miller, starting in late elementary school.
Unlike a lot of novels that are derivative of video games (and many "extended universe" books based on popular media), these books are actually well-plotted and well-written, and aren't just a bunch of corporately-blessed fanfiction.
The books aren't dependent upon having played the games, and, in fact, I think I got the first before I played MYST. (Though, if he does enjoy the books, the games very cheap these days, and the first two or three, at least, will run on just about any computer. They're not violent or action-y, but very dependent on thinking and puzzle solving.)
The first book was the only one I had for quite a while, and it was one of the first long novels that I reread multiple times. You can find the three books in one volume or separately. The first book is the best by far, but the second is also very strong. The third is less well-liked by most, but it's been a while since I've read it, and I've only done so once. I enjoyed it, though.
YES and they are fabulous because they aren't just simple re-hashes of the games, but tell the backstory of each generation of the family, including how Atrus' grandmother witnesses the end of the D'ni!
Myst Reader
It's also my summer vacation, and I just started rereading my favorite trilogy, Myst.
http://www.amazon.com/Myst-Reader-Books-1-3-Three/dp/1401307817/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212908945&sr=8-5
It's a quick read (not anywhere near difficult 900ish pages), but I enjoy it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345488591&sr=8-3&keywords=myst
Unfortunately these are published out of order. I always read them T'iana, Atrus, then D'ni, but they seem to always publish them in the order here, Atrus, T'iana, D'ni. Makes more sense the first way.
The Myst books. I never played the games at the time, I only knew about the game from Computer Chronicles TV show. I saw the book in a store and wanted it because it was something I knew about.
The Book of Atrus was the first one I read as a teenager. I read it about 2-3 times (I hardly ever read on my own). I also read the other two. I purchased all three books and then I bought the Myst Reader which contains all books in one. Book of T'iana was a bit boring the first few chapters, lots of digging underground.
You don't need to know anything about the games to enjoy it. Its about a ancient civilization that writes books that create worlds to step into. And if you don't have a book to return, you can get trapped forever. Some poeple are sent to worlds as punishment. There are many types of worlds and societies in them. But its easy to read and not complicated. Family issues, etc. There is chasing and running away from people and jumping into books over fire so the book burns and no one can follow. That part had been really sucked into reading.
It is one of the few books I have actually completed and enjoyed on my own. I enjoyed Girl With A Dragon Tatoo, but it was pretty complicated with too many characters to keep track of sometimes.
It can be had in paperback ($8) or ereader ($10) on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Myst-Reader-Rand-Miller/dp/1401307817
That's the overarching theme of Neil Stephenson's 2003 novel, Snow Crash.
Someone never read Snow Crash
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
For a FUN way to learn more about this, I recommend Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson ... a cyberpunk classic:
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book-ebook/dp/B000FBJCJE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420319656&sr=1-1&keywords=snowcrash
Old Man's War series:
https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi-ebook/dp/B000SEIK2S
Love reading on my kindle, and now prefer it to real books.
[Cyberdrome] (https://www.amazon.com/Cyberdrome-Joseph-Rhea-ebook/dp/B0012Q6G5Y)
[Old Man's War] (https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi-ebook/dp/B000SEIK2S/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524503897&sr=1-1)
[The Last Revolution] (https://www.amazon.com/Last-Revolution-R-T-Carpenter-ebook/dp/B00EFL3QK6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524504042&sr=1-10)
Old Man's War is great sci-fi fun.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/ebookdeals using the top posts of the year!
#1: Hyperion by Dan Simmons - Kindle ($1.99) | 1 comment
#2: Old Man's War by John Scalzi - Kindle ($2.99) | 2 comments
#3: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams -- Kindle ($2.99) | 1 comment
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The Lost Fleet (military space opera)
Old Man's War (military science fiction)
boyaa
no shipping yo
THIS.
Also, the Sword of Truth series.
Edit: Links :)
Dresden
Sword of Truth
Dean Koontz - Watchers (scifi / suspense involving genetically modified animals)
Jim Butcher - Storm Front (a detective who's a wizard)
Kevin Hearn - Hounded (urban fantasy, a millennium old druid in modern day)
Richard Kadrey - Sandman Slim (dark, violent underworld fantasy)
The Dresdin Files by Jim Butcher!! Fun, ACTION PACKED, cinematic. A modern-day wizard in Chicago battling the forces of evil! Many books to this series. Easy, fun page turners.
The first book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000WH7PLS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1415145213&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70
I think you'd like One Second After. Its about the after effects of society once America has fallen in a war. There technological advances are taken away and they have to rebuild their lives and society yet survive. I read it and loved it .
Pure is also another good one. Its a YA dystopian but it a little different than the other ones out right now.
I'd love [ Blood Fever] ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CVDYC8U/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3ELTM32IWG58H&coliid=IXRE8YN1NYT6H) if I win. Now I'm off to see all the suggestions to add to my list!
here:
http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-ebook/dp/B002LATV16/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343328377&sr=8-2&keywords=one+second+after
Try "One Second After" it's available to read on Kindle also.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002LATV16/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492965988&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=one+second+after
The books are FAR better. The show was alright, quite good for SyFy, but it was a watered down version of the amazing source material. If you liked the show even a little bit I highly recommend reading the series.
If you like historical fiction The Saxon Tales is some pretty good reading. https://www.amazon.com/Last-Kingdom-Saxon-Tales-Book-ebook/dp/B000FC2RR2#navbar
bonus the bbc is doing a series on them coming out soon. I find them compelling because I have dutch/wasp ancestry.
I also like nonfiction that reads like fiction. I highly recommend literally anything by Eric Larson. I'd start with Devil in the White City. Great true story about a serial killer operating during the Chicago World's Fair in the 1890s. https://www.amazon.com/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467895439&sr=8-1&keywords=the+white+city
You said no sci fi but The Expanse series is some of the best reading I've ever had.
https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1467895699&sr=8-4&keywords=the+expanse#navbar
I have a sister who read that series and she recommended a bunch of authors using similar themes (Gene Wolfe, Jo Walton, Robert Charles Wilson, and Kim Stanley Robinson) and then the book Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1).
I'm sorry to say that I haven't that book or very much by the authors she mentioned, so I can't really say whether I agree with her or not. The only reason that I could remember the authors she mentioned was because I was looking up the book to refresh my memory and found Ada Palmer's website that talked about the same thing.
Not sure how you feel about Sci-Fi, but I recently picked up the first book in The Expanse series and found myself roped into the conflict that's happening. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is the start of the series and it's currently got about nine books in it. I haven't been disappointed yet.
Here's book 1: https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0047Y171G/
Books with whisper synch have an option for it on the product page.
Like this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0047Y171G/ref=mh_s9_acsd_top_bP_c_x_13_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-5&pf_rd_r=NV9V6J9EKJWT8SSZN684&pf_rd_t=30901&pf_rd_p=58acb9ff-7392-5c86-b0a6-625755be4441&pf_rd_i=25
I'd love to read Neverwhere! Used is fine :) cheaper ftw. Thanks for the awesome contest!
You should give us a little insight as to what genre you like, since every reader is different. Here are a few of my favorites from some random genres.
Fantasy: A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter, Neverwhere, American Gods.
Sci-Fi: The Illustrated Man, Gold.
Dystopian Fiction: The Stand, The Road.
Classic Fiction: Flowers For Algernon,
Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Whatever Else: Fight Club, Fast Food Nation
edit: formatting
Some of my favorites:
I forgot, I have also started Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Read by Stephen Fry), and it is well done as well.
I remembered a couple more that I liked:
Unbroken - good (true) story about WWII pilot who was captured by the Japanese
Water for Elephants - Good book (fiction) about a circus in the depression era
Anathem - I really like Neal Stephenson, and this was a good book, but it was very long, and I'm sure I would have had a much harder time if I had to read it, instead of just listen to it
Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1) - Good book, but very long and if it weren't for the different voices by the narrator, I would have gotten lost pretty easily.
Hope this helps, and hope you find some good ones!
Agree with robot_army_mutiny on Dick.
Mcmannis is a short story writer so any book you pick up will have some gems.
For Stephenson I like his newer work. Anathem is a good, intellectual read.
Also grab Nueromancer by Williams Gibson and any of the Wooster and Jeeves series by PG Wodehouse. The first is the father of cyberpunk and the second is a British humorist that Adams cites as a big influence.
Guess my major.
If you haven't yet, you really need to read Anathem. Seriously.
I read The Thousand Orcs by Salvatore a few years back and thought it was alright. But my favorite series by far is ASOIAF. I would also recommend The Forever War and Anathem.
I'm not an ME, but these are some of my (more computery-ish) favorites that might have general engineering appeal:
The Difference Engine - proto-steampunk!
Gödel, Escher, Bach - essays on logicians' wet dreams.
Anathem - mathy and fantastic.
House of Leaves - you'll either love it or it will just piss you off...
Also, anything by Phillip K Dick or Kurt Vonnegut. And Feynman's (first) autobiography is definitely a must.
Relatedly, and I'm pretty sure someone else mentioned it in this thread, but have you read Anathem?
For those who enjoy this understanding of the multiverse, read this book.
kinda a different outlook on this idea, but if you like that, you should read seveneves.
Not zombie related, but A Canticle for Leibowitz is an interesting take on society carrying on after the earth is destroyed.
And SeveNeves by Stephenson is about a group of people that left earth before a cosmic event made it uninhabitable, coming back thousands of years later to start over.
Neal Stephenson's Seveneves is exactly what you are looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Is that the new Seveneves mod?
It depends on the mass and velocity of the object. It could range from nothing at all, to complete destruction of life on Earth. There's a recent book by Neal Stephenson called "Seveneves" that goes into the latter in great detail, at least in one scenario.
Essentially, the moon gets broken up by some unknown thing. The pieces start colliding, breaking them up and changing their orbits. After a period of some months, they start raining down on Earth in large numbers. The entry of so many fast, massive objects into the atmosphere superheats it, frying everything on the surface and boiling the upper parts of the oceans.
While his descriptions of what could happen in such an event are scientifically reasonable, be warned that some of his ideas about how humanity might survive such an event are extremely unlikely at best.
Of course, a major fragment of the moon falling to Earth could have other repercussions, such as breaking up our planet, or simply causing the same kind of climate change that is believed to have killed off some of the dinosaurs.
The Power by Naomi Alderman (bonus for girl power!)
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (mutation theme comes later in the book, but worth it)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. A big book that's taken me 2-3 months to go through. I read a few hours a week and at one point, I misplaced it and went through two other books: the Other Boleyn Girl and George Orwell's 1984. Both incredibly amazing books that I highly recommend!
EDIT: I haven't posted books to The Paper Back Swap in a long time and I'm thinking I'm going to get back into it after hearing about all these good books!
Romance and Science fiction! It's got to be The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
Nothing else comes close my friends.
“Right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
“Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.”
― Audrey Niffenegger
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/498072.Audrey_Niffenegger
My Mom will give me books that she really enjoys. She has given me Sleep Toward Heaven, Time Traveler's Wife, and The Faraday Girls.
Anyways, having looked over my bookshelf, here are some recommendations purely for the sake of recommending. Maybe not spot on what you're looking for, but why not...
Neverwhere. A book I've read about nine times. Because it's awesome.
Time Traveler's Wife. Kind of established/re-ignited my hope and sense of romance. My father isn't much of a reader and usually takes months to go through a single book, but after losing his wife, my stepmother, he went through this in a week and thanked me profusely afterwards.
Island. I'll tell you right off, it's one of those 'intelligent reads'. The end is proclaimed early, it comes as predicted and it's depressing, but the book overall is nice. You read it first, to check :)
Gates of Fire.
Born To Run. Just read this recently. Fun, interesting, quick.
As a starting point, maybe try The Time Traveler's Wife?
At only 10 years old it's fairly easy to digest compared to the writing of more... classic literary fiction. Also, I loved it.
The Time Traveler's Wife was really good, in my opinion. All my girl-friends really liked it too.
The time Traveler's Wife reads like a diary with the additional twist of time travel.
I read The Time Traveler's Wife. Usually I love re-reading books repeatedly, but this one I can't. It's a great book, and I highly recommend it, but one-and-done for me. I can't go through that emotional turmoil again.
I'm really surprised no one has mentioned this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Hell-Novel-Steven-Brust/dp/0312870493/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319435381&sr=1-1
One of my favorite authors.
"To Reign in Hell" by Steven Brust is a really good book that revolves around the rebellion of angels against God and the exile of Lucifer and his conspirators into Hell.
http://www.amazon.com/Reign-Hell-Novel-Steven-Brust/dp/0312870493
Have you read *To Reign in Hell?
The time is The Beginning.
The place is Heaven.
The story is the revolt of the revolt of the angels.
A war of magic, corruption, and intrigue that could destroy the universe.
To Reign in Hell - Steven Brust
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels, also To Reign in Hell a marvelous novel about the revolt in heaven.
For an interesting take on the tale, you should check out Steven Brust's To Reign in Hell.
For Love of Evil by Piers Anthony.
(Disclaimer, I didn't read this one)
God's Demon by Wayne Barlow
(or this)
Waiting For The Galactic Bus
(Sorta, kinda? )
To Reign In Hell By Steven Brust and Roger Zelazny
(I actually read this one. It was super psychedelic)
There are lots more from the point of view of the Antichrist, actually.
While I would avoid discussing this in-depth with believers (just imagine, they'd finally have proof that all those godless atheists really are satan worshipers), Steven Brust wrote an excellent (fantasy) novel that looks at life in heaven from a non-propagandized view. It's actually really well written too.
And read To Reign in Hell. For a more entertaining rendition :)
To Reign In Hell by Steven Brust.
Not perhaps relevant, but The Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward is a fun read that ponders an existence on the surface of a neutron star.
Dragon's Egg by Robert L Forward. It's fairly obscure and fucking brilliant.
From Amazon: "In a moving story of sacrifice and triumph, human scientists establish a relationship with intelligent lifeforms--the cheela--living on Dragon's Egg, a neutron star where one Earth hour is equivalent to hundreds of their years. The cheela culturally evolve from savagery to the discovery of science."
http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Egg-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/034543529X
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward
These are "hard" science fiction books: they try to be as realistic as possible. They make you feel like we'll be living on mars in a couple years.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Mars-Trilogy-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0553560735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268769251&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Egg-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/034543529X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268769139&sr=8-1
Encounter with Tiber
Spin
Julian Comstock
Domain / Resurrection
Dragon's Egg / Starquake
Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, currently tearing through Woken Furies by Richard Morgan
fast-paced and well written stories of a commando-type. gritty and cool Gibonesque universe where consciousness is stored on in a small metal cylinder at the base of the skull, you can die, be revived, change bodies, etc. cool AI hotels, unfathomable ancient Martian tech, lots of guns
also just finished Dragon's Egg and Starquake by Robert L Forward
1mm alien slugs living life a million times faster than humans on a neutron star with 63 billion times the gravity of Earth. hard science. dry dialog for humans, but really well done conception and description of such an alien race, from when they first learned how to use natural tools, until they have control of blackholes, FTL/time travel, etc. (over a few Solar days)
Love it, Great read.
http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Egg-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/034543529X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369884995&sr=1-2&keywords=dragons+egg
Have you ever seen the table of nuclides? The neutron is included on this version of the "physicist's periodic table." I don't see the neutron being added to the chemist's periodic table since a free neutron does not hold an electron and would not do chemistry. An "ionized neutron" doesn't even make sense to me. Neutron stars are cool but not very relevant to most chemists (if you like neutron star speculation, you might like The Dragon's Egg by Robert L Forward).
Earth Abides it's the book that inspired The Stand and I liked it quite a bit more though that may just be because the second half of The Stand disappointed the hell out of me.
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Earth Abides by George Stewart
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Z for Zachariah Robert O'Brien
Deathlands series 116 books so far.
The Last Ranger by Craig Sargent. "Good" is debatable
The Road Cormac McCarthy
The Postman David Brin
The End is Nigh Ed. by John Joseph Adams. This just came out.
possibly 'Earth Abides' by George R. Stewart? It starts out much in the way you specify although it does take it's own turn.
I can't think of 3, because most of the authors I love were never really "known" enough to become forgotten. But I will mention two of those:
Obligatory wiki links: Dystopian Literature. Although, some of the titles listed don't seem to fit (The Dispossessed?). Nuclear holocaust fiction, and your general apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.
Some of the better/more popular ones:
Zombies: World War Z, Raise the Dead, Marvel Zombies, Zombie Survival Guide, Day By Day Armageddon, I Am Legend.
Also, just for kicks, some of my favorite dystopian movies:
Brazil, Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Blade Runner, Akira, Children of Men, Dark City, A Boy and His Dog, Logan's Run, Idiocracy, Equillibrium.
The novel "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart is an excellent example of this scenario:
"A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic, ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded or hoped for."
http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Abides-George-R-Stewart/dp/0345487133
On The Beach by Nevil Shute is probably the closest I've read to that level hopeless apocalyptic scenarios.
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is another one. It's not as dark, but it has some key things in common that you may like.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood No sci-fi or apocalypse thread is getting very far without me recommending it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345487133/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/179-3482201-3691259
Also, if you want to read a Science Fiction Novel about it: http://www.amazon.com/Ilium-Dan-Simmons/dp/0380817926/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372255553&sr=8-3&keywords=olympus%2C+book%2C+dan
This is how I imagine the Pantheon in Ilium by Dan Simmons would look. (Amazing book- read it!).
Cool. I figure this is just another step towards the nanomachines that give us a built in Internet, like they have in Ilium
I'm really looking forward to that.
I'm currently reading a sci-fi book that is something of a re-telling of The Illiad taking place on Mars. There's a lot going on to give an accurate picture, just read the synopsis, it does a better job than I can: it's called Ilium. It is a little overly convoluted at times but there's so much originality. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Archives for the links in comments:
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Chuck Palahniuk is the Kurt Vonnegut of my generation. He writes in such a twisted and yet profound manner. I get lost every time I open the pages to one of his books. Fight Club has become to me, what Catcher in the Rye was to my father. I will always adore his style and twisted view of the world.
Here is one of my favorite books by good ol' Chuck : [Amazing] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Monsters-Novel-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0393319296/ref=la_B000APV8ME_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1370575577&sr=1-4)
I have three to recommend.
First, "Invisible Monsters," by Chuck Palahniuk. Linky. I love this guy's books, they're all really dark and leave an odd taste on the tongue after reading. This one is one of my favorites by him. I used to own it, but my bitch-ass sister stole it. It's that good, though. I totally don't blame her for taking it. Another one of his I highly recommend is "Lulluby." No one's managed to steal that one from me yet. :D
Second is "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," by Stieg Larsson. Linky. The whole trilogy is fantastic, the second book being my favorite of them, but you have to start at the beginning, right?
Third, and definitely the best, IMHO, is "Jitterbug Perfume," by Tom Robbins. Linky. My favorite book by my favorite author. I could go on about his books for days, they're so damn amazing, but this book takes the cake, by far. It stuck with me for weeks after reading it. It's not really all that dark, but in a way it is.
All of them are perfectly well under $8 if you get used paperbacks! And even if you don't buy any of these, at least get to the library and check them out that way. You won't regret it, especially the Tom Robbins. And if you ever want any more book recommendations, I'm here! I effin' love books, if you can't tell by the wall I just submitted here. :D
I know you said no Gone Girl or Fight Club, but honestly anything by either of those two authors (Chuck Palahniuk and Gillian Flynn) is amazing. I personally recommend Invisible Monsters.
It’s from the cover of my favorite book, Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
invisible monsters by chuck palahniuk
there is nothing else to say
Thieves!
I think you would enjoy Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters.
love this contest! i have a list just for books! but these two are ones that i would particularly love but probably never buy myself.
these are my cheaper ones:
do androids dream of electric sheep?
brainiac
the october country
invisible monsters
thanks for contesting!
So... I'm writing up another post in notepad with a lot of Reddit comment formatting code and whatnot as a starter for creating quality stickies. Here's what I'm working with currently. There will be more to come. Feedback is welcome:
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Link to previous Q&A sticky: Sticky 1, Sticky 2
Unlike many other subreddits, we at /r/Satanism enjoy nearly complete freedom of speech. The tradeoff for that free speech is that sometimes you will be exposed to ideas or opinions that you don't agree with. Keep in mind that bad behavior and not bad ideas will get people banned from this subreddit. As Satanists most often believe in stratification, the voting buttons in /r/Satanism can be used to that end. Because of this, moderators like myself likely will not remove links to sites that you would expect to be removed from other subreddits.
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FAQ:
Note: This FAQ is written by moderator of /r/Satanism and member of the Church of Satan, /u/modern_quill. I am trying to remain unbiased and fact-based in these Q&A responses, so if you feel that I have somehow misrepresented your organization or philosophy, please let me know and we can work together to make the appropriate corrections.
Q: What is Satanism?
A: This is a simple question, but it has a complex answer because it depends on who you ask. Satanism as a philosophy and religion was first codified by Anton Szandor LaVey in his 1969 publication of The Satanic Bible. Some people refer to this secular Satanism as "LaVeyan Satanism" as a nod to Anton LaVey. The Satanic Bible borrows from the works of Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard, Ayn Rand's Objectivism, and Frederich Nietzche's Der Wille zur Macht. This is the most widely practiced form of Satanism and is championed by the Church of Satan (CoS) to this day. At its most basic definition, "LaVeyan Satanism" is about living the best life that you want to live, and bending the world around you to your will to achieve that goal. A Satanist sees themselves as their own God. There is, of course, much more to Satanism than that very basic definition, but we expect people to do their own research as well. Most LaVeyan Satanists will simply call it Satanism, as there is only one form of Satanism from the Church of Satan's perspective. Members of the recently formed secular organization called The Satanic Temple (TST), by comparison, see Satanism as political activism. The Satanic Temple often makes news headlines with their efforts to establish a separation of church and state and do not include The Satanic Bible as part of their organization's canon, but rather The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France. There are also theistic Satanists, some believe in a literal Satan and some do not. Ask a theist like /u/Ave_Melchom what they believe and they'll likely share their thoughts with you, but you probably won't find very many theists that share the same philosophy. There are also more esoteric organizations such as the Temple of Set (ToS), which was formed by former Church of Satan member Michael Aquino after infighting within the organization in 1975 caused many theistic members to split away and become Setians. /u/Three_Scarabs and /u/CodeReaper moderate /r/Setianism subreddit and are a wealth of information on the subject. There are also organizations that fall into a more neo-nazi ideology such as the now defunct Order of Nine Angles (ONA or O9A) and self-stylized "Spiritual Satanists" of the Joy of Satan (JoS), which are often not tolerated by other members of this subreddit. The words, "Fuck off, Nazi!" have become somewhat of a meme on /r/Satanism.
Q: If Satanists don't believe in Satan, why call it Satanism at all? Why not Humanism?
LaVeyan A: Modern secular Satanists see humans as just another animal within the greater animal kingdom, no better than our avian, reptilian, or mammalian friends. Our technology and our intellectual advancements may have placed us at the top of the food chain, but it has merely encouraged humans to be the most vicious animals of all. To us, Satan is a metaphor that represents our strength, our pride, our intellect, our carnality, and all of the so-called sins as they lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification. The Hebrew word Satan simply means adversary, and Satanists take that adversarial stance to a great many things in their lives; the way we approach an issue, the way we tackle a problem, the way we overcome an obstacle. While Humanists may try to live like Bill & Ted and be excellent to eachother, a Satanist recognizes that emotions like anger, even hate are natural to the human animal and we shouldn't feel guilty for such natural inclinations. While Christians may turn the other cheek when wronged, you can be sure that a Satanist will have their revenge, with interest.
*
Q: Do you sacrifice or molest children/animals? Do you drink blood?*
LaVeyan A: No. Sacrifice is a Christian concept that was projected on to innocent Satanists during the "Satanic Panic" of the 80's and early 90's by charlatan law enforcement "consultants" and Christian religious "experts". One trait common to Satanists is their love of life as Satanists view life as the greatest of indulgences; children and animals represent the purest forms of life and imagination that there are. In fact, the abuse of children and animals is forbidden by the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth. Also, why would we want to drink blood? Christians* are the ones that (symbolically) eat the flesh and drink the blood of their savior. I'd rather enjoy a nice scotch.
Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth
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More FAQ Below - (10,000 character maximum per post.)
Philosophy: Who Needs It is a better introduction. If that makes sense then move on to The Virtue of Selfishness
That was Cambodia.
http://i.imgur.com/LmfiYRj.jpg
Again, theory is not reality. Humans are greedy. Humans are out for their own self interests. Given absolute power some can be absolute tyrants. Read some Ayn Rand. The total opposite of what you've been reading. The Virtue of Selfishness is a pretty easy read. Rather idealistic but a good place to start. Always look at both side of an issue. I have a MyYahoo page with a dozen news feeds RSS'd to it, including Peoples World.
Dude, stop being dumb. You're not going to make peace, and you're going to piss her off. And you know what? It doesn't fucking matter.
You are miserable, this is toxic, and you constantly act as if you want it. Dozens of people have told you this many, many times.
Start thinking about yourself, for once. This may be drastic, but you need the kick in the pants. Learn yo' self, fool.
All evaluations are relational to someone doing the valuing, including moral evaluations. But this doesn't make them subjective, in the sense that there is still a fact of the matter. (See: Values Are Relational But Not Subjective for further explanation of this.)
Further, in The Virtue of Selfishness, Rand argues that, when long-term consequences are taken into account, there is no actual conflict of interests among people. (This position excludes some highly unusual, dire emergencies.)
When it's raining, I love sleeping in then making a lazy day breakfast of sauteed onions and peppers, with scrambled eggs and a bagel as well as coffee. Then it's video games!
Thanks for the contest, and I would appreciate this book if I win. :)
Freedom^TM is actually a pretty decent book. Make sure to read Daemon first.
Daemon and
Freedom
I just read Daemon, and the sequel Freedom(TM) by daniel Suarez and they are both excellent. The deal with corporate control in the government and the future of the internet. It also makes heroes out of WoW players.
I just finished Daemon and Freedom (TM), a two-part series by Daniel Suarez. I liked them a lot, and I suspect I would have liked them even more if I were into online gaming.
Please replace the amzn.to link (under John Scalzi's Redshirts) with the full original URL (minus the referral tag). URL-shortened links aren't necessary on reddit, and they'll always get spamfiltered - especially if they contain an Amazon referral tag.
There's a book about that where the crew all hide from the officers whenever an away mission is coming up. And, rather cruelly, they don't tell rookies on the ship to hide...
Redshirts, by John Scalzi. It's got a bit where a man has no pants. And then, later on, another bit where a different man has no pants. Many funny things happen in both of these bits, and in all of the other bits, and even some more bits besides those.
It's also got an immensely satisfying plot, there were several parts where I had to put it down and just marvel at how clever it was. Quality book. You should read it. Seriously, read it. Like right now. Go on.
I just finished reading Redshirts and this had me laughing my ass off....
One I have not read, but have heard is good is The Dog Stars by Peter Heller but he's stranded on Earth.
Other ones that are not really about solo survival in a distant planet but are really enjoyable are -
14, by Peter Clines - It's not about a solitary person, but the scenario takes place in modern day Los Angeles and has a relatable cast of characters. It's been compared to the show LOST
Or Redshirts, by John Scalzi was also very enjoyable for a bit of humor and if you've ever heard about the omen of 'red shirts' on sci-fi shows.
Looks like it came out on the 14th
I feel like I should give him a fair shot seeing as he is quoted as one of the greatest Sci-Fi authors.
I tend to work my way through the Hugo Awards if I'm looking for new Sci-Fi. I discovered Red Shirts which was brilliantly funny through that list.
What's your favorite manga/anime?
I'm not sure what genres they are, but my current favorites are The Martian by Andy Weir, The Monster Hunters Series by Larry Correia, and Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.
Well, Andy published a book recently that you might enjoy.
I ask then, would a book like The Martian be considered science fiction? I haven't yet read it myself, but it's my understanding the narrative is a detailed and accurate representation of what a manned trip to Mars would be, then asks what would happen if one of the astronauts was accidentally left behind. Ridley Scott will direct the movie. Matt Damon will star.
I ask because I feel many would consider The Martian to be science fiction. As they would Gravity. Certainly neither explore the same areas as a cyborg cop patrolling the streets of Detroit, but wouldn't they fall somewhere closer to the 'hard sci-fi' end of the spectrum?
And here's another book everyone should read. It's wrote from a engineer viewpoint, similar to "Flight of the Phoenix" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059183).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139024/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is like priests trying to be celibate. It will end badly over time. Go the other way and embrace self completely. Throw out the selflessness and destructive altruism from your life. Read this
> You can judge people, but you're judging them by your standards (or your group's standards), not an absolute standard.
Such a judgement, absent a reference to reality as you insist it must be, is just irrelevant personal preference. George Washington = Stalin in this paradigm.
>In fact, the only places I've ever seen the idea of an absolute standard being defined is in religious texts.
May I suggest you look into Objectivism then.
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
and
The Virtue of Selfishness
are probably the most relevant.
> freedom™
Yes, I want that. In fact, I highly recommend it. (Read "Daemon" first, of course).
Indeed
No, red shirt's job is to die horribly in the first 4 minutes of an episode during a planetary excursion.
RedShirts By John Scalzi
Redshirts is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship’s famous senior officers.
Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship’s senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members below decks avoid Away Missions at all costs.
Then Andrew stumbles on information that transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.
http://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-Novel-Three-John-Scalzi/dp/0765334798/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406659642&sr=1-1&keywords=Red+Shirts&dpPl=1
Check out Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card if you have not already. Doesn’t cover you question but it’s a great read.
John Scalzi, Old Man's War series or Redshirts .
You might be interested in this book.
Well, the wealthy have never been that enlightened, but I think people just stopped feeling guilty about it after reading Ayn Rand. She tried to rebrand it as a virtue, and I think it caught on due to a lot of anti-Soviet sentiment at the time.
The moon's rotational velocity would be turned into linear velocity (with respect to the Earth-Moon system) and it would go off on a 'straight line'. What happens next depends on the time of the month, oddly.
If that line happened to be roughly parallel with Earth's orbital direction, at full moon or new moon, it would likely stay in the big Earth orbit around the sun.
If the line was more perpendicular, during first or third quarter, it would be launched toward or away from the sun. Depending on the angle, it could slingshot around the sun and then get permanently ejected from the solar system. Either way, it would likely not hit anything on the way out, though its path might be modified by a gas giant's gravity if close enough.
Final thing to keep in mind when visualizing this strange occurrence: the Moon is about 30 Earth diameters from Earth... lots of space.
But what if the moon broke up instead for some reason? Read this great Neal Stephenson book to find out what might happen.